Printer technology from daisy wheel to dot matrix to laser.

Guests: Herb Lechner, SRI; Steve Ray, Diablo; Paul Shapiro, Diablo; John Ebach, PARC; Doug Curry, Xerox; Tibor Fischally, Xerox

Products/Demos: Diablo Daisy Wheel Printer, Diablo Thermal Printer, Diablo Series C Ink Jet Printer, Xerox Color Laser Printer


This movie is part of the collection: Computer Chronicles

Audio/Visual: sound, color
Keywords: Episode year: 1984

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Reviewer: FroggyMe6581 - - March 23, 2012
Subject: Xerox Alto!
What a great, very early episode! This is the one that Stewart Chefiet said the laser printer went up in smoke during the filming :) That Baboon image is legendary, and the Xerox Alto made an appearance! I was impressed by the silence of the thermal printer. But the rat-tat-tat of the daisy-wheel was fun. And the engineer said "plug 'n play" in 1983. Wow!

While I enjoy the Random Access segment of later episodes, especially when they have historically significant news announcements, as they always seem to, I really like the outro in these older episodes with the groovy music, and the behind-the-camera view.